Zhytomyr Oblast (), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna (), is an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

(province) in northwestern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the oblast is the city of

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

. Its population is approximately

History

The oblast was created as part of the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

on September 22, 1937, out of territories of

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

oblasts as well as two border okrugs of

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

– Korosten Okrug and Novohrad-Volynsky Okrug. The oblast covers territories of the historic regions of

Polesia Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shou ...

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

, and

Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

, which are reflected on the oblast's coat of arms. Before the 18th century the larger half of the oblast belonged to the Kyiv Voivodeship (), while the smaller western half around the city of Zviahel belonged to the Volyn Voivodeship. Following the

Treaty of Andrusovo The Truce of Andrusovo (, , also sometimes known as Treaty of Andrusovo) established a thirteen-and-a-half year truce, signed on between the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had fought the Russo-Polish War sin ...

, the city of Zhytomyr () continued to act as an administrative center of the Kyiv Voivodeship. Following the

second partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

, on the newly annexed territory was formed an oversized Izyaslav Vice-royalty (Russian: ) which included former Polish territories in Volhynia, Podolia, and Kyiv land and centered in Izyaslav. However, a couple of years later the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

annexed more territories of the Polish Kingdom during the third partition of Poland, contributing to the complete disappearance of the Polish statehood. The Izyaslav Vice-royalty was reformed and the territory of today's Zhytomyr Oblast predominantly ended up in the Russian

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

and the city of Zviahel which was renamed as Novohrad-Volynskyi (Russian: ) became its administrative center. Later the administrative center was transferred to the bigger city of Zhytomyr (Russian: ). During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Russian troops partly occupied the region. They were completely repulsed when the (where Russian forces had been dug in from the opening of the offensive in late February 2022) was declared liberated on 4 April 2022.Zhytomyr region is liberated from Russian troops - the head of the Regional Military administration

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(4 April 2022)

Geography

The total area of Zhytomyr Oblast is . Among the points of interest it is important to mention the following sites that were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine: * Church of Saint Basil the Great ( Ovruch) * Stone village state preserve * Korolev Memorial Astronautical Museum The Museum of Ukrainian home icons, which is the only one in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, is situated in Zhytomyr Oblast. It is located in Radomyshl, a small town, about away from

. The museum is the part of the Radomysl Castle historical and cultural complex. It was founded by Olga Bogomolets.

Population

The current estimated population of the oblast is 1,268,903 (as of 2013). According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 90.3% of the population of Zhytomyr Oblast,

ethnic Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

for 5.0%, and ethnic Poles for 3.5%. The current estimated population of the oblast is 1,268,903 (as of 2013).

Language

Due to the Russification of Ukraine during the Soviet era, the share of Ukrainian speakers in the population of Zhytomyr Oblast gradually decreased between the 1970 and 1989 censuses, while the share of Russian speakers increased. Native language of the population of Zhytomyr Oblast according to the results of population censuses: Native language of the population of the raions and cities of Zhytomyr Oblast according to the 2001 Ukrainian census: Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Zhytomyr Oblast. On 20 December 2018, a moratorium on the public use of Russian-language cultural products was imposed in Zhytomyr Oblast by a decision of the Zhytomyr Oblast Council. According to a poll conducted by ''

Rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

'' from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 74% of the residents of Zhytomyr Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 14% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 9% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 3% found it difficult to answer. On 18 November 2022, Zhytomyr Oblast Military Administration approved the «Oblast programme for the development of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life in Zhytomyr Oblast for 2022—2025», the main objective of which is to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast. According to the research of the ''Content Analysis Centre'', conducted from 15 August to 15 September 2024, the topic of which was the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the Ukrainian segment of

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, 84.0% of posts from Zhytomyr Oblast were written in Ukrainian (76.1% in 2023, 73.5% in 2022, 24.6% in 2020), while 16.0% were written in Russian (23.9% in 2023, 26.5% in 2022, 75.4% in 2020). After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Zhytomyr Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradual Ukrainization of the education system, which had been Russified during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of the languages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Zhytomyr Oblast: According to the

State Statistics Service of Ukraine State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (, ''Derzhavnyi Komitet Statystyky Ukrainy'') is the government agency responsible for collection and dissemination of statistics in Ukraine. For brevity, it was also referred to as ''Derzhkomstat''. In 2010, ...

, in the 2023—2024 school year, all 133,037 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Zhytomyr Oblast were studying in classes where Ukrainian was the language of instruction.

Age structure

: ''0-14 years:'' 15.8% (male 103,194/female 97,617) : ''15-64 years:'' 68.1% (male 420,285/female 444,803) : ''65 years and over:'' 16.1% (male 65,301/female 138,472) (2013 official)

Median age

: ''total:'' 39.4 years : ''male:'' 36.1 years : ''female:'' 42.6 years (2013 official)

Economy

The economy of Zhytomyr Oblast mostly deals with

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

of granite and other construction

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and various

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

manufacturing. The northern part of the province is highly affected by the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

: some of the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

s and

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s are devastated and are included in the Chernobyl zone, while others are prohibited from producing their own agriculture.

Administrative divisions

Zhytomyr Oblast is subdivided into 4

s (

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

). The districts of Zhytomyr oblast include: * Berdychiv Raion () *

Korosten Raion Korosten Raion () is a raion (district) of Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine borde ...

() * Zhytomyr Raion () * Zviahel Raion ()

Important cities and settlements

List of biggest populated places of Zhytomyr Oblast with population in thousands: *

– 266.9 *

Berdychiv Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022
— Державна служба статистики України – 73.0 *

Korosten Korosten (, ), also historically known as Iskorosten (), is a historic city and a large transport hub in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It is located on the Uzh (Pripyat), Uzh River. Korosten serves as the Capital city, administrative center ...

– 63.5 * Zviahel – 56.3 * Malyn – 26.2 * Korostyshiv – 25.4 * Ovruch – 15.8 * Radomyshl – 14.6 * Baranivka – 11.8 * Olevsk – 10.5

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (, translit. ''oblasnyi tsentr''). The name of each oblast is a relative

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

, formed by adding a feminine

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

to the name of respective center city: ''Zhytomyr'' is the center of the ''Zhytomyrs'ka oblast (Zhytomyr Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with Zhytomyr Oblast, ''Zhytomyrshchyna''.

Gallery

File:Centre of Zhytomyr at night.jpg, Centre of

File:Житомир, Соборний майдан 1, Обком компартії України.jpg, Zhytomyr Regional Administration File:Carmelite Monastery in Berdychiv 1.jpg,

Carmelite Monastery Carmelite Monastery (Sisters of Mercy Convent) is a historic monastery at 400 E. Carpenter Street in Stanton, Texas. It was built in 1882 and added to the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) ...

File:Volodarsk-Volynsky Stone Museum.jpg, Mineralogical museum in Khoroshiv File:Кмитов, 2020 (20).jpg, Art museum in Kmytiv File:Курган, с. Немирівка (Коростенський район) 02.jpg, Kurgan in Nemyrivka File:Кам'яне Село.jpg, Stone Village

References

External links

Zhytomyrschyna Welcomes

The Official Site of the Radomysl Castle
{{Authority control Oblasts of Ukraine States and territories established in 1937 1937 establishments in Ukraine Belarus–Ukraine border